Close Your Eyes
by Darkchilde
Summary: Jamie and Catie confess their love for one another


Disclaimer: Don't own them, not even Christopher Ralph. (Who Santa Claus did NOT bring me! :( I'm so depressed, so I guess that explains this fic!) A note of this fic: I was, and am depressed. This fic reflects that. Plus, I was listening to "Close Your Eyes" (the Buffy and Angle love Theme), on constant repeat. I hope you like this fic, and without further ado...  
  
Close Your Eyes  
  
  
  
The first leaves of autumn were just beginning to fall from the trees, the brilliant yellows and reds and oranges swirling together in a riot of color. The sun shone down from the bright blue sky, illuminating everything with it's sparkling rays of light. The air was crisp, holding just a taste of winter's bite in it. The wind stirred in the trees slightly, blowing a few of the less fortunate leaves from their places clinging to the branches, and sent them twirling to the ground. The air itself seemed to radiate with peace and serenity, and it filled the heart of the young girl walking down the sidewalk, making her smile for one of the first times all day.   
  
Catie Roth tilted her head back slightly as she walked, letting the wind blow through her hair. It was...wonderful out today, she thought her heart might burst in her chest. Catie was in one of her rare good moods. Everything around her seemed to sing to her, and she let her smile grow bigger as she continued down the street.   
  
School had actually been alright for once, even though she had skipped out of Spanish and would probably be dead in the water tomorrow. But right now at this very moment, she didn't care. She was alive, and she felt good.   
  
She actually had a pretty good idea what had brought on her sudden burst of happiness. Jamie had asked her to a movie tomorrow night, and had NOT said the dreaded words: "You know, as friends." Her heart skipped a beat, and Catie stopped in the middle of the sidewalk and shook her head at her own silliness.   
  
"Look at me, getting all gushy just because Jamie asked me the movies. How pathetic." Catie tried to scold herself, but her heart wasn't in it.   
  
Well, of course her heart wasn't in it. Her heart wasn't in much of anything anymore, unless it involved one Mr. Jamie Waite. What was it about him that made her feel like she was floating whenever he looked into her eyes or accidentally touched her? Maybe it was his eyes...maybe it was his smile...  
  
'Maybe it's the fact that your utterly in love with him?' A voice asked in the back of her mind, and she winced.   
  
"That could be it..." Catie muttered under breath and then smiled. "No wonder people think I'm crazy--here I am, standing in the middle of the road, talking to myself."   
  
Laughing, Catie stopped at the corner of Maple and Oaks, looking left and right before starting across the street.   
  
'You know, Jamie only lives a few blocks from here...'   
  
The thought of Jamie made Catie slow down, and she let another goofy smile cross her lips. So wrapped up in the thoughts of her "knight in shining black leather jacket", she missed the roar of a car's engine.   
  
Missed it, until it slammed into her, knocking her into the air. The car's back tires swerved out of control, making the car fish tale across the road, and slam into a nearby tree, the driver's head slamming against the steering wheel, and hitting the horn, the loud blare of the horn cutting through the quiet of the neighborhood.  
  
Catie gasped at the sharp pain that was cutting through her side, blackness obscuring her vision of the blue, blue sky. Her heart was pounding in her chest, and something warm and sticky was running down the side of her face, but not matter how hard she tried, she couldn't lift her arm to touch it and see what it was. It hurt to breathe, and her lungs burned with the need for oxygen.   
  
Was this what it was like to die?   
  
Blackness swan up over her, pulling her under into utter darkness. Catie went willingly; anything to escape the burning pain that shot through her body faster then an adrenaline rush.   
  
The blackness cradled her, made her feel safe and warm and painless. But something--some one--was trying to call her back from the blackness, and as much as she didn't want to leave the comfort, something in her heart whispered for her to leave it, just for a little while, and then she could come back.  
  
The dark slowly faded into color, like the sunrise, and Catie blinked a few time, the sticky liquid gluing her eyelashes stuck for just a minute. Slowly, things became less blurry, and then snapped into focus, revealing the warm brown eyes of the man she loved.  
  
"Jamie..." Why did he look so stricken? And what was wrong with her voice? It was to scratchy and soft to be hers.   
  
"Oh, God Catie, don't try to talk. What hurts? Where's the blood coming from? What HAPPENED?" Jamie's words feel over themselves, he was spitting them out so fast.   
  
What HAD happened? She didn't remember. All she remembered was walking down the street, and thinking about him.   
  
"Jamie..." She whispered again, trying to command her hand to lift so she could touch his face. "Oh Jamie..."   
  
Her fingers were the only things that were willing to listen to her pleas, and they wiggled just a bit, reaching for the young man that hovered above her.   
  
"Don't talk. Oh God...oh baby..." Jamie slid a hand under her back and lifted her up so that she was closer to him.   
  
She shivered, suddenly cold, and tried to snuggle even closer to him. He noticed, and pressed her tightly against his body, so that she could hear his heart beating. It was strangely comforting, and Catie was lulled into a daze by the steady thump-thump. Her eyes began to slip shut.  
  
"No! Catie...don't close your eyes!" Jamie was crying. Jamie never cried. Catie forced her eyes open to find herself lost in a pair of pain stricken eyes, to dark and pleading to be Jamie's--but they were.   
  
"Why..." Catie croaked up, but the look in his eyes was enough for her to understand. "No..."   
  
"Catie please hold on...the paramedics will be here, soon." Jamie pleaded with her, pressing his lips against her hair and forehead, his body shaking like one of the leaves on the trees.   
  
"Jamie...I..." The blackness called to her again, beckoning to her with it's warmth and safety. Her body, aching with pain, wanted to respond, wanted to slip into the darkness and never return. But her heart--her heart wouldn't let her leave Jamie.   
  
"Catie please...please don't go." It was like he knew what was coming. He couldn't stop it, and neither could she, they both knew that.   
  
"Jamie...I..." Catie tried again, wanting to cry at her inability to tell him what she had to tell him before...  
  
"Catie..." His voice was a barely above a whisper, but she heard every word as clear as day. "I...I have to tell you..."   
  
"Jamie..." Her voice was getting weaker, she realized. That couldn't be a good sign.  
  
"I love you, Catie Roth. I have loved you from the moment I first saw you, when we were nine years old. You have been the center of my world since you walked into my life, and I won't...can't imagine life without you. I need you...I love you, with all my heart and soul. I'll never love anyone the way that I love you." Jamie finished speaking, looking into her eyes and bending down to press a soft kiss against her brow.  
  
"I...love you too." Catie whispered. "Forever...and always." The last word stuck in her throat, and she coughed, warm blood filling her mouth. The coldness grew more intense, and she shivered, wanting to be as close to Jamie as she could before...the inevitable.   
  
"Catie..." Tears streamed freely down Jamie's cheeks as he cradled her in his arms, knowing that this was it. He bowed his head, kissing her softly on the lips, and held her as close to him as physically possible, his cheek pressed against her hair.  
  
"Jamie..." Her final word on her lips, Catie Roth allowed herself to slip into the darkness.   
  
She went limp in his arms, and Jamie knew that it was too late. Sobbing, her pulled her body close to him, trying to convince himself that if he just held on tighter, she would come back to him.  
  
"No, Catie..." He sobbed, his entire body shaking. "Don't leave me! Please, don't leave me! I need you!" His cries were the only sounds in the still street.   
  
The blare of sirens cut through the unearthly silence, but the sound did not reach Jamie's ears. He was as deaf to it as the girl in his arms was, so it made no difference to him.   
  
Because Jamie had died as well, the instant Catie left this life.   
  
  
  



End file.
